The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, looks set to allow the construction of data centres across London's 'green belt', an area of countryside that has been protected from overdevelopment since the Second World War.
The announcement came in the form of the London Plan, the first draft of which was published on 16 July, wherein the Mayor laid out his plans for the capital's spatial development strategy pending a three-month consultation period.
Within the green belt – which encircles London completely – is a newer, more contested category of land known as the 'grey belt'.
This is land that technically falls within the green belt but is considered low quality or already degraded. As a result, planners believe these areas are suitable for development.
It is this grey belt land that Sadiq Khan is most likely to open up to data centre developers. But while the news will have been welcomed by hyperscalers, the mooted plan has not been received positively across the board.
